as compared to Infuse, youtube, Netflix, etc.
Netflix varies by platform considerably. I've never found YouTube's interfaces particularly compelling either.
Ask yourself this question, " why do I need play, pause, Rew, FF buttons on the screen when my remote can do all that?" saving yourself a few clicks to navigate and select. simplicity is what make apple popular(with a few exception like Music app), this is the opposite of it.
Well, let's see. If you use your remote control to fast forward, etc., the OSD menu doesn't come up. So WTF are you complaining about again?
You see XBMC/Kodi was originally designed to work an XBox, which doesn't really have such buttons. From there it spread like wildfire to a LOT of other systems, from computers (which usually don't have those buttons) to various embedded devices like your AppleTV or my FireTV. These devices may have any number of different remotes and control options. The OSD is activated by the user when they want to either access the controls they DO NOT HAVE on their remote/keyboard/control device or to get to the sub-titles, video or audio menus (or other menus for music like visualizations, etc.). The play/stop buttons aren't really hurting you by being there and offer an alternate control mechanism should you be holding say a joystick controller for something like an AppleTV or FireTV that can ALSO control the device (i.e. you may not be holding the regular remote but can still control it).
Does that make ANY sense to you what-so-ever or would you like to whine some more about it having a control mechanism YOU don't particularly like? There's also the official and unofficial Kodi remotes in the iOS store (very similar to Apple's own Remote App in many regards) as yet another way to control Kodi (or in this case mrmc).
or was XMBC designed for other platform that can't control play, pause, rew, FF directly back in the old days? why MrMc carry all this legacy to apple TV?
Gee, the last time I checked the new AppleTV supported the old remotes, bluetooth game controllers and one would suppose in the future bluetooth mice and keyboards as well as the default controller. Kodi/mrmc would support any of those operating its interface, but your complaint would render it moot to anything and everything but your apparently preferred default remote. The fact that version 1.0 (cobbled together in record time from the Kodi source) doesn't scroll quite as smoothly on the trackpad device obviously means that it's a POS and will NEVER GET ANY BETTER EVER.
OSD is just one of the issues.
It's not an issue. It's just you complaining about nothing. Forget whether the program enables your entire media library including virtually all non-apple formats, DTS output, etc. Let's focus on an OSD that is only on the screen for a few seconds.
Let me give you a few more. Siri touch remote does not work. check on their forum and you find out that the developer admitted that they designed MrMC to work with old remote because he did not like the new touch remote. if you enable zoom on ATV settings, clicking touch to select items does not work at all.
I'm sure it'll never be addressed because it didn't make V1.0. As I said, paid developers are more apt to listen to user complaints than unpaid ones.
so let me summary: UI is old and clunky that have not changed for years. Touch remote does not work.
I have Kodi on Nvidia Shield, and I like it because it allows customization, keyboard support, and add-on.
MrMc has none of these that make XBMC/Kodi great. the only advantages that MrMc has over Kodi (on other platforms) are tvOS and ATV. but MrMc does not utilize any of these advantages (touch remote, simplicity UI).
If you've looked at the Kodi and mrmc forums, you know that this was a rushed release to get
something, anything out there to make the ATV4 functional rather than its iTunes based interface that can't handle higher-end formats like DTS audio or play any number of formats Apple doesn't support. Given Kodi has been free, crying wasn't even an option, really. I guess if the price of half a pizza is too much to ask for something that has had many man-years of development behind it and makes the AppleTV a lot more functional than it was with Apple's limited options, well, what can one say to THAT?
if you hate Apple UI, why do you even own ATV? why even buy MrMc? why not buy Nvidia Shield with powerful Kodi officially in google app store? MrMc has half of Kodi features.
Who said I had the current ATV? I'm watching to see what happens with it before I invest $150+ on one, especially since I fairly recently bought two FireTV sticks to watch Amazon Video and have Kodi on them already. If AppleTV + an App can get me features that doesn't support (say DTS-HD MA working output or even 44.1kHz bit-accurate audio) plus handle all my media (including non-Apple media or unsupported embedded features in Apple compatible media like my M4V 1080p movies that have DTS-HD MA, DTS-ES, etc. in them that Apple's iTunes and AppleTV just ignore) then maybe an AppleTV4 or 5 will be in my future. Other Apps might influence that as well, which is why I'm watching what's going on with the platform.
Apple's GUI is OK for some things and could be improved in various areas as well (works much better with the Remote App for instance). The worst thing about it is how they've de-emphasized your own media library and continue to ignore all requests for any other media support. On iOS they've taken a perfectly fine music player and turned it into a MESS with the addition of Apple Music being integrated into the App in an intrusive way (for those that aren't using it, a pointless way) with little to no customization to restore the simple functionality that drew me to Apple's GUIs in the past. "It just works" has been replaced with "It used to just work". Apple has strayed from the basics and is moving too fast without too little thought to functionality and usability these days, IMO. They don't listen to feedback and don't fix many issues either. I'm not considering a non-Apple phone and/or tablet as well. There are too many options out there these days to just blindly follow Apple on everything. Even if I like OS X, that doesn't mean I have to use iTunes or AppleTV with it. I'm currently trying to keep most of my library working in iTunes as well (with DTS and what not as invisible extras I can use on Kodi and the like), but it breaks at some point (e.g. 3D support, DTS Music CDs that used to work on Gen1 ATVs (not because they thought about it, but because it was bit-pure accurate), but no longer do because of lack of 44.1kHz output, etc.)
